Royal Goegraphic Society, London, 2017

Two parallel worlds, many thousands of miles apart, and each with its own particular relationship with the material which has rapidly come to define the modern age: plastic.

On one side, the remnants of a Festival depict an almost apocalyptic scene: piles of garbage, dirt fields scattered with crushed plastic bottles, bags, balloons, single use cups, and cheap, disposable furniture. A column of polystyrene fast food containers piled high, emerging triumphantly from a packed litter bin, while the bright lights of the festival’s famous music scene beam away in the background.

On the other, the lush greenery of rural Africa. An elderly lady pours water from a small stream into a number of large plastic carrying containers. A child thrusts a dirty plastic bottle, covered in grit but very much intact, towards the camera. And, in the larger urban centres, enormous landfills surrounded by circling birds show where many single use plastics end up on the continent, entire streets packed to bursting with colourful bags full of plastic waste.

Raw Truth

Making Time Two

FOLLOWING ON FROM THE HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL 2014 SHOW MAKING TIME: NEW PHOTOGRAPHIC CONSTRUCTIONS, WILLIAM ARNOLD, ANDY HUGHES, MELANIE KING AND OLIVER RAYMOND-BARKER WILL BE EXHIBITING NEW WORKS THAT UTILISE A RANGE OF ANALOGUE AND DIGITAL PROCESSES TO GENERATE THEIR INDIVIDUAL VISIONS.

From William Arnold’s beautiful sequence of cameraless botanical prints to Melanie King’s astronomical cyanotypes that ‘draw from the heavens’; from Andy Hughes iconic Plastic Photo-Totem to Oliver Raymond-Barker’s visceral prints exploring the nature of stone - this show is an exploration into landscape and the material potential of photography. It will be a rare chance to see contemporary photography in Cornwall and is part of an ongoing concern to develop new audiences and opportunities for the photographic arts within the county.

Anchorage Museum

Gyre: The Plastic Ocean

With stunning visual impact and an astonishing array of ocean trash, internationally recognized artists create works of art for this exhibition from debris collected from beaches around the world. Plastic packaging in a throwaway culture finds its way into our ocean biosphere and then into the hands of artists. Our oceans and beaches are awash in plastic pollution propelled by gyre (rotating ocean currents). The exhibition explores the relationship between humans and the ocean in a contemporary culture of consumption.

For decades artists have created works that address the relationship between community and environment. In the later part of the 20th century, artists gave a voice to the environment. Artists such as Robert Smithson, Michael Heizer, Christo and Jeanne-Claude and others became interested in the social value of art.
PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS(EXPEDITION):
Alaska SeaLife Center
Alaska Marine Stewardship Foundation
Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center
Blue Ocean Institute
Ocean Conservancy
Harker School
Mountain and Sea Productions
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Geographic
Smithsonian Institution
THE GYRE PROJECT WAS GENEROUSLY FUNDED BY:
Anchorage Museum Association
Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership
Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation
Giles W. and Elise G. Mead Foundation
Leonard and Tannie Hyde
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Endowment for the Arts
North American Marine Environment Protection Association
Ocean Foundation
Paul G. Allen Family Foundation
Rasmuson Foundation
Robert Rauschenberg Foundation
Surdna Foundation
Wells Fargo
The William Randolph Hearst Foundation

Casa Cultura Okendo, Donostia, Spain

‘Surf, Civilization and Barbarism’

“The importance of beauty and the enjoyment of a wave, of nature vs. the economy facts and the short term development.

Anchorage Museum, 2013

Gyre: The Plastic Ocean

Close up detail of Circularity Series

CDC, Atlanta, USA

‘Gyre: The Plastic Ocean’

GYRE: The Plastic Ocean sponsored by the David J. Sencer CDC Museum, Office of the Director for Communication; the National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Office of Noncommunicable Disease, Injury and Environmental Health; and Go Green, Get Healthy, Office of Safety, Security, and Asset Management, CDC.

Maritime Museum, Donostia, Spain

San Sebastian Surf Film Festival

Making Time

In the autumn of 2014 the historic Penwith gallery in St Ives will host Making Time: New Photographic Constructions, an exhibition of South West based photographic artists. The show will demonstrate the breadth and diversity of the contemporary photographic medium. Each artist’s work is informed by an exploration of contemporary issues such as: the hybridization of analogue and digital, the engagement of science and ecology in the practice of image making and the manifold histories of photography.

The work shown will be photographic in the broadest sense of the word; the artists utilising a full gamut of light based processes to generate their individual visions.Their work shares a rigorous enquiry into the materiality of photography; consolidating historic photographic aesthetics with contemporary concerns to enquire into the future of the medium.

Photo-works

Andy Hughes & Chris Jordan

Mariners Museum

This exhibition will highlight the work of two photographers, Andy Hughes and Chris Jordan, whose works explore the phenomenon of American consumerism and its environmental impact. Andy Hughes' work focuses on the accumulation of garbage washed up on the shores where he surfs. Chris Jordan's composite photos explore the "pervasiveness of our consumerism."

Belgrave St Ives

Photo-Works

Solo Exhbition

Penwith Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall

Making Time

In the autumn of 2014 the historic Penwith Gallery in St Ives will host Making Time: New Photographic Constructions, an exhibition of South West based photographic artists. The title, New Photographic Constructions, references the groups intention to develop the photographic medium beyond its conventional boundaries, constructing complex yet subtle works through experimentation. The show demonstrates the diversity of photographic practice in Cornwall today and seeks to build on the avant-garde legacy of the Penwith Society, founded in 1949 under the distinguished leadership of Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and Bernard Leach. The five featured artists are Andy Hughes, Oliver Raymond-Barker, William Arnold, Hannah Guy and Nicholas Hughes. Cornwall at large and St Ives in particular has not given photography a significant platform of support, in terms of regularly providing exhibition space and other developmental activity.The exhibition represents a unique opportunity to provide this platform and to act as a catalyst for future photographic development in the area. Coinciding with this show Tate St Ives will present The Modern Lens: International Photography and the Tate collection. The exhibition will look at the exchange of avant-garde photographic practice between Japan, Europe and the America's between 1928 and 1968. The Modern Lens will provide an illuminating historical context for the Penwith exhibition and both shows offer a rare opportunity to see high calibre photographic works in St Ives.